Redskins Ink Bruce Smith

February 12, 2000 / 1:56 PM EST / CBS/AP

Bruce Smith, the defensive leader of the Buffalo Bills for the past 15 seasons, signed Saturday with Washington, only two days after a messy separation from the Bills.

The 11-time Pro Bowler, who had been asked to take a 50 percent pay cut, signed a deal that will pay him $23 million over five years and includes a $4.25M signing bonus.

"I've been through an emotional swing this last week," said Smith, who was born and still lives in Virginia. "This is like a homecoming for me."

The 36-year-old Smith has 171 career sacks, second all-time in the NFL behind Reggie White.

He brings his ability to harass quarterbacks to a team whose only genuine pass rusher was third-down specialist Ndukwe Kalu.

"If you want to play good on third down, you've got to rush the passer," said coach Norv Turner, whose team had 40 sacks last season and ranked next-to-last in defense in the NFL. "Bruce has made a career of that."

Last season, Smith had only seven sacks, the lowest total since his rookie year of 1985. That doesn't count 1991, when he played only five games because of knee injuries.

"That's not enough," Smith said of last season's performance.

Smith's release by the Bills wasn't his only shock this week.

On Tuesday, Smith lost his friend, Derrick Thomas, the Kansas City linebacker who died 16 days after being paralyzed in an auto accident.

Smith had visited Thomas in a hospital in Florida and had been planning to visit him again next week.

Then Smith was released by the team he helped lead to four consecutive Super Bowls, in the first four years of the '90s. It was part of a salary cap housecleaning that also involved the last two Bills who played in four Super Bowls running back Thurman Thomas and wide receiver Andre Reed.

The Bills wanted Smith, who was due to make $4.6 million next season, to cut his salary in half.

"I don't know what's going to happen to that particular team," Smith said. "I know they're in bad shape. Looking back, it did hurt to a certain degree. I never would have thought it would have ended this way in my wildest dreams."

But he was so happy when he heard from the Redskins, that he told his agent, Leigh Steinberg, to deal with Washington before any of the other eight teams that contacted him when he was released by Buffalo.

The Redskins hope this deal will help validate what they did two years ago, when they made a big splash during free agency by signing Dana Stubblefield and trading for Dan Wilkinson. Neither of the high-priced defensive tackles has been the dominant defensive presence the Redskins had hoped.

Washington is hoping Smith and Penn State linebacker LaVar Arrington, whom they expect to take with the No. 2 overall pick in the April draft, to fill the bill. That pick was obtained in the deal in which the New Orleans Saints gave the Redskins eight picks over two years for the rights to running back Ricky Williams.

Turner said the Redskins still hope to re-sign free agent defensive end Marco Coleman, who was a strong locker room presence. Last year's other starter at defensive end, Anthony Cook, also is a free agent.

It's highly unlikely Smith will play the entire five years of his contract, which expires when he is 41.

"I'll have more gray hair than I have now," he said. "But I told some people at the end of the season that my body felt better at the end of this year than it has in four or five years."

Smith might not be the only future Hall of Famer to join the Redskins for next season.

Washington had been interested in Joey Galloway, who was traded from Seattle to Dallas on Saturday. Now they might turn their attention to San Francisco's Jerry Rice, the NFL's career receiving leader, in a deal that could include two of the Skins' three first-round picks.